When I returned with my haul, Lina was even farther inside the pipe, lying on her belly, visible only from the waist down. I crouched down next to her and peered inside. My filthy little fur ball had inched closer and was almost within licking or biting distance.
“Be careful,” I warned her. Visions of rabid squirrels assailed me.
“This sweet baby isn’t going to attack me. She’s gonna ruin this very nice shirt when I snuggle her up. But that’ll be worth it. Won’t it, princess?”
Anxiety was building in my chest. I didn’t bother trying to figure out what had triggered it. Everything seemed to these days. “Lina, I’m serious. This is police business. Let me handle this,” I said firmly.
“You did not just police business me over a shivering stray.” Her voice echoed eerily.
“I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I’m not going to get hurt, and if I do, I made the choice and we both can deal with it. Besides, you and those broad, hero-like shoulders would never fit in here.”
I should have called the county Animal Control. Skinny Deke would fit just fine.
I couldn’t see clearly, but it looked as if the dog inched a bit closer to sniff delicately at Lina’s outstretched hand.
“Jerky me, Nash,” Lina said. She extended her opposite arm back and wiggled her fingers.
My semisolid dick was still having a hell of a time ignoring the way those leggings hugged her ass. But I managed to rip open the bag of jerky and hand some over.
Lina took it and reached toward the dog. “Here you go, cutie.”
The little, muddy fur ball belly crawled tentatively toward her hand.
Small dogs bit too. Lina wouldn’t be able to block an attack. And then there were things like infections to worry about. Who knew what parasites were growing in this half-frozen muck? What if she got an infection or needed facial reconstructive surgery? All on my watch.
Lina kept on making kissing noises and the dog inched closer as my heart threatened to smash its way through my sternum.
“Look at this. A nice piece of beef jerky. It’s all yours,” she said, waving the jerky temptingly in front of the dog.
I locked my hands on Lina’s hips and got ready to pull.
“No, the nice man is just giving me a hug from behind. He’s not freaking you out with his scary vibes at all,” she continued.
“I don’t have scary vibes,” I complained.
“Nash, if your fingers dig in any harder, I’m gonna have bruises. And not the fun kind,” she said.
I glanced down and found my fingers white knuckled on the curves of her hips. I loosened my grip.
“Good girl!” Lina said and I leaned down, trying to see what was happening. But I was hindered by my shoulder and the view was blocked by the aforementioned shapely ass.
“I’ve got our sweet girl all snuggled up in a good grip,” Lina reported. “There’s just one problem.”
“What?”
“I can’t wiggle out and hold on to her. You’re gonna have to pull me out.”
I stared down at her ass again. I was going to have to be real careful how I wrote up this incident report or Grave would have a fucking field day with it.
“Come on, Chief. I won’t bite. Get me out of this disgusting swamp before I start thinking about rabies and fleas.”
I had two options. I could stand up and drag her out by the ankles, or I could pull her back by the hips.
“Just so you know, I’m picking the option that will do the least amount of damage to your lower back.”
“Just grab a handful and pull.”
“Fine. But you stop me if you get uncomfortable or if the dog starts to freak out.”
“Jesus, Nash, I’m giving you consent to haul me out of this drainage pipe by my ass. Get to it!”
Wondering how a brief mental health exercise had gotten me here, I grabbed her hips and yanked them back against my groin. I barely managed to bite back a groan as Lina’s torso slid out of the drain.
“Everything okay?” I asked through gritted teeth.
“All good. She’s a sweet little thing. Smells like a bag of fertilizer, but she’s friendly.”
I took a firmer grip on her hips. “How do you know she’s a she?”
“Pink collar under all that grime.”
I hoped to hell that wasn’t a car engine I heard on the road. “I swear to God if anyone drives by…” I muttered.
“Come on, hotshot. Show me what you’ve got,” Lina encouraged. The dog gave an excited yip as if agreeing with her heroine.
I inched backward on my knees, then dragged her hips back into me. Again, the perfect curves landed in exactly the right place. But this time her head, arms, and the dog slid free of the pipe onto the frozen grass. She was on knees and elbows, ass to crotch with me. My heart hit triple time and I felt light-headed for reasons that for once had nothing to do with anxiety.
A snazzy little Porsche SUV crossed the double line and pulled over behind my vehicle. “Need any help there, Chief?” Naomi’s best friend, Stefan Liao, smirked behind the wheel.
I looked down at Lina, who raised her eyebrow at me over her shoulder. It looked like I was mounting the woman on the side of the road.
“I think we’ve got it handled, Stef,” she called back.
Stef flashed a little salute and grinned wickedly. “Well, I’ll just be on my way to tell everyone I see how Chief Morgan starts his Saturday morning.”
“I’ll arrest you for being a pain in the ass,” I warned him.
“Looks like you would know, Chief,” Stef said. With a wink and a wave, he drove off in the direction of town.
“Nash?”
“What?” I bit out the word.
“You think you could let me go? I’m starting to get ideas that might make our new friend here blush.”
Swearing under my breath, I took my hands—and groin—off her, then slipped the leash around the dog’s skinny neck. It was indeed wearing a dirty pink collar with no tags. Both the collar and the dog looked as if they’d been through a ten-mile mud race.
I didn’t know whether to pick up the woman or the dog and decided it was safer to go for the dog. She shivered pathetically in my arms, even as her tattered tail tapped out a nervous beat against my gut. Lina climbed to her feet.
“Congratulations, Daddy. It’s a girl,” Lina said. She slid her phone out of its sleeve and snapped a picture of me.
“Stop,” I ordered gruffly.
“Don’t worry. I cropped it at the waist so no one will see what kind of weaponry you’re packing,” she teased, coming to stand before me and taking a selfie of the three of us. I scowled for it and she laughed.
The dog scrambled higher up my chest, shivering in my arms. “Lina, I swear to God…”
She brought a hand to my chest and the turmoil inside me quieted. “Relax, Nash.” Her tone was soft, as if she were talking to the bedraggled disaster of a dog again. “I’m just teasing you. You’re fine. I’m fine. Everything is fine.”
“It’s inappropriate. I was inappropriate,” I insisted.
“Determined to beat yourself up, aren’t you?”
The dog buried her head under my chin as if I was somehow going to protect her.